Danny Ben-Israel / The Kathmandu Sessions

Danny Ben-Israel was a notable Israeli musician of the late 1960s and early 1970s, producing psychedelic progressive rock with socially concerned lyrics in Hebrew.

Ben-Israel was born in Tel Aviv and started his musical career while still in the Israeli Defence Forces’ Northern Command. He had a series of pop hits while still in the army. After leaving the army, he wrote and recorded for films and appeared in several musicals.

He toured Europe in 1968 and settled briefly in Austria to record the LP Happy Birthday, Rock’n'Roll. He returned to Tel Aviv in early 1969. Upon his arrival home he befriended guitarist Shlomo Mizrahi, acclaimed in some quarters as “the Israeli Jimi Hendrix”, leader of power trio Ha’Bama Ha’Hashmalit and recorded 1970’s Bullshit 3¼, one of the first Israeli psychedelic recordings. The album was harshly criticized by the local media and had little commercial success, but has gained a great reputation amongst collectors, being regarded as a “psychedelic masterpiece”.

Soon after Bullshit 3¼, Ben-Israel and Ha’Bama Ha’Hashmalit reunited for an English-language session intended for release on a small American label that went bankrupt prior to the album’s release, the resulting tapes languished in the vaults for over three decades, finally seeing release via the Merry Records label as The Kathmandu Sessions in 2003.